With a week to spare Mimi Odgers of Water Not Waste reports that Northampton City Clerk Wendy Mazza has certified 1,993 signatures to date for the citizen initiated landfill question. This means the question will appear on the municipal ballot November 3. Odgers said the target number of signatures is 1,930 and petitions are still coming in. The deadline for submitting signatures is September 21. The Nonbinding Public Opinion Advisory question shall read:
Shall the City of Northampton expand the Northampton landfill over the Barnes Aquifer?
Mary Serreze is reporting unofficial results on NorthamptonMedia.com that challenger Michael Bardsley has won the Northampton mayoral primary with 55% of the vote. Gene Tacy wins in Ward 7. Read more at Northampton Media.
Signature gatherer Mike Kirby has posted his reflections on ballot initiatives, "An uphill slog," at Kirby on the Loose. Kirby worked previously on the Hospital Hill ballot questions in 2003 and on the Smith College Educational Use Overlay District citizens' petition in 2006.
In addition Ward 4 City Councilor David Narkewicz sent me this update regarding the Ordinance Committee meeting of Monday, September 14. Councilors Narkewicz and Robert Reckman voted in favor, and Councilor Michael Bardsley voted opposed. View heavy public use ordinance amendment proposals here PDF. From Narkewicz:
Last night the Ordinance Committee completed its review of the two competing ordinance proposals — one sponsored by me and one sponsored by the Planning Board – to change the city's zoning requirements for the approval of Heavy Public Uses as outlined in Section 350-10.7 and Section 5.2 Table of Uses.
The Ordinance Committee voted 2-1 to recommend BOTH versions to the full City Council's meeting this Thursday with amendments to each one. I have attached a PDF document that shows the recommended deletions/additions for each ordinance. No new language has been added to either proposal. The effect of these recommended amendments is the creation of a compromise approach combining elements from each of the two competing proposals. Here is a summary:
The City Council would be required to take a non-zoning legislative vote authorizing any Heavy Public Use prior to any application for Site Plan Review/Special Permit.
The legislative authorization requirement includes specific language that the City Council consider noise, odor, traffic, environmental impacts, etc. as currently required under its special permit responsibility for Heavy Public Uses.
If a Heavy Public Use project received approval from the City Council, it would then require Site Plan Review and Special Permit to be conducted by the Planning Board. The Special Permit criteria would be narrower as Section C of the existing ordinance remains under the purview of the City Council.
